[Petrarch]

Episode Discussion

"Subspace Rhapsody"

US Airdate: 03/08/2023 (Paramount+)
International: 03/08/2023 (Only in countries with access to Paramount+)

This thread is for the pre and post discussion of the ninth episode "Subspace Rhapsody" - this will be a spoiler filled discussion so if you've found your way past the warnings in the activity stream and the spoiler tag on the thread, this is your last chance to turn back, or at least it will be at the end of this first post. You have been warned!

An accident with an experimental quantum probability field causes everyone on the U.S.S. Enterprise to break uncontrollably into song, but the real danger is that the field is expanding and beginning to impact other ships — allies and enemies alike.

You can find a preview of the episode details here.

Subspace Rhapsody is episode 9 of 10. This is it, the to be famous - or infamous - musical episode. Kirk is still here for this one and we're now at just 1 more to go before the conclusion of Season 2.

Written by: Dana Horgan and Bill Wolkoff
Directed by: Dermott Downs

[Novalance]

I REALLY don't enjoy musicals, they are sort of my wife's kinda thing, with that said, I actually enjoyed it, and at the end with the enterprise itself dancing with its 'backup' Dancers that was just fantastic!

[Josh Broughm]

In the middle of the episode...So far, I'm digging it. All the cast have some good voices.

[JByb04]

I was afraid they were jumping the shark.

But I loved the episode. Even laughed out loud during a certain scene. Will definitely have to get the soundtrack when it releases.

[darthnovawave]

I was a bit uncertain at first too. I don't mind musicals in general, but fitting a musical into scifi was something I'd not seen before. I also knew going into it that Celia Rose Gooding was a Grammy winner and Christina Chong had released an EP before this so they had at least a couple singers there, but the rest of the main cast seemed to have some decent voices too. From a story progression standpoint, it also seemed to bring the Spock/Chapel and La'an/Kirk stories to at least a close for now if not permanent closure, so some of these weird canon-bending arcs might be poised to swing back towards expectations for the fans of the older shows too, and it wasn't just a musical for a musical's sake with no lasting impact to the broader story arcs being carved out here. All in all I thought they pulled this one off pretty well. Now for the downside, we only have 1 more SNW left this season then a few weeks break before Lower Decks season 4 kicks off.

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Update: Started watching this week's Ready Room episode. Did not realize that the Klingon captain was actually the same guy that played Hemmer. Now my mind is kinda blown.

[Stormy]

OK, nobody else is going to say it... so I will.

This is by far the worst episode of Star Trek I have seen... and I've been watching Trek since TOS. That's right, not just the worst SNW episode, but in all of Trek. (Mind you, I haven't seen anything past a couple of episodes of Season 2 of DISCO and none of Lower Decks so it's quite possible there are worse episodes... but I'm doubting it.) The entire premise is asinine and I can assure you I will skip any future episodes in this format, so I'm truly hoping there are none.

Did I mention I didn't particularly care for this episode?

[JByb04]

You might have Commodore!

It's definitely not your typical Trek. I have a feeling you're not the only one who feels that way. But when they said they were doing it, I knew it was going to be either a dumpster fire or triumph. That's in the eye of the beholder and I'm sure the fandom will be debating this episode for years to come.

[Noram]

Did I mention I didn't particularly care for this episode?

That's pretty much true for all nu-Trek, isn't it?

[Jestersmith]

I watched it, and it was not as bad as I was expecting, still, it was bizarre and surreal but it's done now onto the next one

[JCarrill0]

I put it off, but I watched it.
I don’t like musicals…
The show was good, when they weren’t singing.

[Stormy]

That's pretty much true for all nu-Trek, isn't it?

Most of it. I am still a huge fan of THIS show. I'm not a gimmicky kind of guy, and that's what this episode was. I prefer solid story lines, really good acting and staying true to the characters. Those did not exist in this episode. Most new Trek prefers to be trendy over being Trek. The problem with trendy is there is usually little staying power because those fans will jump to the next new shiny thing that comes along.

[Soral]

I prefer solid story lines, really good acting and staying true to the characters. Those did not exist in this episode.

I had the opposite view watching this episode. I thought the storytelling was very on par for Trek. The musical part was different than what was done before and that's not always going to be a crowd pleaser. I wasn't feeling it the first couple numbers, but then it got really good and I was hooked on the episode. Mainly, because it still provided a lot of actual story and closure to some arcs that they'd set up. Or at least as far as we might see on a few of those arcs.

The acting was also very well done considering what was being asked of the characters. The emotional tie-in to each song required a lot of effort to pull off. It's not just what was said, but how they said it or the looks that had to be given to convey what they were feeling. That takes skill as an actor and it was very well done. La'an and her story within the episode were a great display of that. Her scenes required a lot of ups and downs to pull off and I thought it was acted wonderfully.

Staying true to the characters is a bit subjective considering its a period before we were all introduced to them. I thought they did a great job of pointing the characters back towards what we are used to. While at the same time over the last two seasons have given some good backstory to how they go to where they are when we first meet them. I think Spock's exploration of his human side and how this episode points him towards his Vulcan side was a nice touch.

[gotBurner]

I can't say I want to see more of these types of episodes. From a quality standpoint I think it was very good. For someone that likes musicals this was probably a treat. My wife likes shows with singing and dancing. Me? I cringe for some reason. I can go to or watch a concert but something about watching people sing and dance on screen is not my thing. I watched the first 2 or 3 songs and recognized it was well done; I watched the very last performance because I had heard it was worth seeing. The rest, I had to fast forward through. My cringe scanner was beeping beyond scope. LOL!

[RavenSplat]

Well I seem to be one of the few Musicals fans here and I seem to have a different view to most.

I found this episode to be just ok. On first watch I’m not that big a fan of it, I listen to musicals all the time and I do wonder how it will end up in a cast recording go through but I felt that although a lot of the songs felt musically there wasn’t a consistent genre between the songs. If I was made to listen to Nurse Chapels song, the intro song and Uhura’s song I would think they were all from the same episode at all.

I do think individually the songs are pretty good and the signing from the cast was also great. The opening song sets up the premise nicely and works to get us used to all the actors signing voices. Number Ones song sets up how the songs work well but is quite forgettable in my opinion. La’ans song was better and is much more musical in the the message. The Captains song to his girlfriend was comical at first but I feel dragged on maybe 15 seconds too long but works very well to show the songs can be stoped which helps the story load as well as proving urgency to fix everything.

Nurse Chapels was also very musically but with such a genre shift I found it hard to focus on that. The Choreography was good though and helps to tell the story. Spocks reprise although a bit cheesy with the Algebra puns was a good song in the sense it shows him coming to terms with his emotions on this.

Uhuras song was my favourite. I feel it would be right at home in a modern stage musical and worked really well both musically and also not only had the strong emotions part of musicals but also the growth part that the best songs of musical theatre also encompass. Though a long song it does what it needs to really well and works to help Uhuras character grow in the short and long term.

The finale number although lots of fun unfortunately feels closer to a penultimate song with unnecessary Klingon Rock interruption and an out of place tempo/key change just before. The ending although a finale type ending doesn’t fit from what I feel of the rest of the song. However Uhura leading it was really nice though.

Despite what above may say I did enjoy the episode and I don’t think I’ll be skipping it on a rewatch but it also won’t be one I look forward to rewatching unless to very stupidly sing along to every single song for a laugh. A decent experiment that I feel Lower Decks or Prodigy could work with but I doubt we will see such activities on the Enterprise in the future.

I do plan to rewatch in a week or two now I know how it goes and May record my thoughts here if I think they will be useful.

[DeWolfe]

I don't like musicals. I felt like Pike when his crew first started singing.

But the "Backstreet Klingons" had me chuckling for a bit. So much dishonour.

"Its every Klingons dream to see you tortured for eternity"